How to Implement SAP Within Budget, Victor Galina
On time and under budget—that is the fantasy that all SAP implementation teams dream about. How possible is it? Well, from a budgetary standpoint, Victor Galina has some great tips to help you keep a tight reign on costs and not exceeded your allocated funding. A few of these tips may also help you to avoid the over time factor as well. Who knows? Maybe you can turn a dream into a reality!
Project Management in the Trenches: Resolving Interpersonal and Cultural Issues on SAP Projects, by TravisBell, MSc SPI, LLC
SAP Project Manager Travis Bell cuts through the clichés with a real story about issues he encountered with a ―problem SAP team member.‖ In reality, the success of an SAP installation requires overcoming cultural biases and personality problems as well as technical barriers. This may be the first SAP article we‘ve seen that honestly looks at how a problem team member can derail an SAP project and how this situation can be overcome.
Building High-Performance SAP Teams: How to Get the Most of SAP Solutions, Tomas Fertig, Crysalis Consulting
In this detailed white paper on selecting project teams, SAP Practice Lead and Project Manager Tomas Fertig describes the many considerations that go into choosing successful SAP teams. He takes into account both ―external‖ and ―internal‖ consultants, as well as the role of daily users and ―key users,‖ or ―super-users.‖ In the process, we learn a lot more about how Tomas rates the various kinds of SAP professionals and how he supports their career growth.
International Rollouts of SAP Solutions: Special Considerations and Best Practices, Tomas Fertig, Crysalis Consulting
Simple SAP rollouts are complex enough, but once you start talking about multi-country, international rollouts, things can get pretty hairy. Fortunately, we have SAP Project Manager Tomas Fertig on board for a brilliant article on how to manage the issues raised by international rollouts. SAPtips readers have been asking us to cover this topic, so we were pleased to get an article from Tomas that acknowledged the challenges of multi-country rollouts without glossing over them. In this piece, Tomas covers a number of topics in the same opinionated, ―from the trenches‖ style that made his first SAPtips article on project management so memorable. Tomas gets right into his analysis of how to construct international project teams, contrasting the needs and agendas of global and local teams, and explaining how outside consultants can enhance (but also detract from) the project's objectives. Additional sections in the article explain how technical tools, hardware configuration, and help desk support should be approached on international rollouts. Throughout the article, Tomas touches on the cultural issues that he's encountered on these projects over the years, and he closes with a section that ties together the most important cultural issues and comments on the application of these ―best practices‖ beyond the initial rollout.
Just How Difficult Is SAP to Implement? A Detailed Look at SAP Project Management, Tomas Fertig, Crysalis Consulting
Let's face it: most articles on ERP project management aren't worth the paper they're written on. How many times can we read bland clichés like ―if you don't plan ahead, your project will fail?‖ Of course, we all recognize the importance of strategic planning. But how do we really determine a successful project approach from an unsuccessful one? With this edition of SAPtips, we're delighted to present a brilliant article on SAP® Project Management that digs deep into SAP and goes well beyond the standard pretty- sounding advice. Why does this article work? We think it's because the author, Tomas Fertig, has worked his way up from hands-on SAP consultant to Practice Manager. Tomas has tasted project successes and failures firsthand, and his passion for SAP keeps him on top of the latest technologies. This twenty-page guide is filled with sharp insights on the best ways to approach SAP projects and the missteps to avoid. Tomas covers everything from the importance of business model definition to the need for a thoughtful approach to cultural change management and employee compensation. Tomas explains why a good ―solutions map‖ is so important, and throughout the article, he connects project leadership concepts with the SAP tools and technologies that can make implementations more successful. Tomas ends the paper with a series of comments on the latest SAP technologies users should be staying on top of, and his opinionated appendix on the different types of SAP consultants is provocative and useful reading. Tomas has told us that he will follow up this paper with some discussions of specific project management issues, and he welcomes reader input on future topics to address.
Using Results Analysis to Get the Most Out of the PS Module, Sam Stinnett, Senior PS Consultant
SAP Managers face tough ROI questions on each project initiative. When there's an unused piece of R/3 functionality that can offer an immediate cost savings, it deserves some serious attention. PS expert Sam Stinnett has uncovered one such piece of functionality. In this well-illustrated white paper, Sam guides us through use of the PS and CO modules for "Results Analysis." Appropriately used, Results Analysis allows SAP users to calculate Revenue and Cost of Sales for customer projects and automate the month-end closing cycle, providing a quick return on investment sure to please even the most budget-conscious CIO.
Managing a Portfolio of Projects in a SAP Environment, A. Kent Bettisworth, Bettisworth and Assoc., Inc. As more and more SAP users look to utilize their SAP data in strategic ways, Project Portfolio Management enables companies to combine high-level budgetary planning with a real-time ability to adjust tight budgets and re-allocate scarce resources as markets fluctuate. One of the foremost leaders in this field, Kent Bettisworth, has crafted a fascinating, in-depth article on how to draw on core R/3 functionality in the Investment Management and Project Systems modules to achieve a whole new level of control over project cost management. In this ambitious article, Kent manages to combine innovative costing strategies with hands-on configuration techniques.